Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 5: Labyrinth of Mirrors.
Episode 80: Eye of the Tiger.

By Razor Knight
Last update: August 20, 2014
Last edited: June 10, 2017

"Sir, Miss Thom-I mean, Niwasaki is here."

Terry nodded at Samuel. It was hard not to call her by her real last name, not that Hana would mind, but it could be bad to slip in public. "We're not busy right now."

Hana walked in, nodding at him and Ami. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"We were just discussing ways to deal with our newest foes."

"What happened to Naru is..." Hana frowned at the thought. "I can't put my feelings on that into words."

Naru had not gone to school, or the base, for the last two days. Usagi had visited her, but even for her it was hard to not feel angry about... Ami decided to make a risky question. "Would you be able to counter an attack like that?"

"If they do try to attack me, I will fry their mind."

"Told you," Terry noted, not sounding amused at all by the topic. "It's a reason why she doesn't like reading minds."

"I could if I wanted to, but even a light prodding feels wrong to me."

Ami nodded. "In any case, why did you decide to visit?"

Hana pulled up her shirt's sleeve, showing them a quite nasty, long scar. "I got this present from a crazy guy with a sword."

"Who wasn't me," Terry joked, noticing Hana's glare. "Sorry, I know."

"It was quite a good reminder, however. I'm not immortal nor flawless."

"So, want us to help you train-"

"I want you to make me a new suit. A Zero suit. That way I will only have to worry about my face."

Terry smiled. "What if I told you I don't even need to make it?"

"What..."

Terry opened his hand, and the two girls could see a black cube resting on it. "I think I mentioned it to you, this material can change its shape with but a thought from the user."

Hana picked the cube and it turned liquid almost instantly, covering her body. It was pretty much the same as her old suit, mask included, except it was all black. "Wow, this is..."

"About only worrying about your face," Terry said, "You can have it cover your whole face and then make the parts you want transparent."

"It's almost like magic, huh?" Nova noted.

"You could say that," Ami admitted, "but I believe what we call magic is just technology we cannot explain yet."

Nova smiled. "I can't wait to test this in battle."

"The Zero can resist even a high-caliber tank's shells. And you'll have the advantage of also being able to resist magic attacks. Not at the level we're on, but if you ever find any rookie mage out there, they'll be fried."

Nova nodded at Terry's explanation. "Thanks."

Terry shook his head. "No, I should apologize. I should have given you that months ago."

Ami looked at Hana's arm. "Hotaru could heal that for you."

Hana looked at the scar and then shook her head. "I'll keep it, it will remind me not to take my power for granted."

Meanwhile, Usagi was inside a quite empty base. "Sometimes I feel like I'm the one taking training seriously these days."

"Actually, the number of visits and time spent by all of your group is relatively even," Aiko noted.

"I'll take your word for that." Chie was practicing alone, with her weapons, and Usagi looked at her movements. She knew that kind of moves, they were fast and wild. "Chie, I know you're angry about what happened, but-"

"That bastard used me to block an attack. I'm going to slice his face off next time I see him."

Usagi sighed. "I know how you feel. I've felt it a few times in the past."

Chie stopped fighting and shook her head. "I think... I'm angry at myself more than I am to him."

"I can understand that, too. But if you let that anger control you, it won't end up well."

The other girl walked to a bench and sat down. "Guess you're right. I wonder where everyone else is..."

As if on cue, the elevator's doors opened, but the two people who walked out of it surprised the three girls inside the room. "Naru?"

Naru smiled at Usagi for a second. "Hi."

"Are you... Feeling better?" Chie asked.

"I'm not quite okay," Naru admitted, "but Umino is good at convincing people."

"All I did was telling her that... Perhaps being with her friends would help."

"As you can see, the base's not as lively as usual," Aiko noted, then sensed something and turned around. "Oh, you."

Yukiko smirked at her. "Yeah, nice to see you too."

Aiko saw the others looking at them. "I told her I would help her improve her chess skills."

"I would need to get skills for that," Yukiko joked.

"Oh," Usagi nodded. "It's good that you're doing things that don't involve the base or our training."

Naru smiled. "I agree."

Yukiko looked at Naru. "Are you..."

"I'm not 'fine' and I know it will take a long time for me to ever come close to that, but... Hiding in my room will not change what happened."

Usagi sighed. She felt the same way about something that had happened to her before.

Umino noticed Usagi staring at him. "Usagi?"

"Don't worry, just... Remembering certain things about the past."

Umino could guess what she was remembering. It still made him upset at times, to remember that he had, in a way, been involved in killing Sailor Moon. "These things can't be forgotten easily."

"Check."

"You're a fast learner."

Yukiko smiled at the compliment. "I have a good teacher."

Usagi looked at the two, and noticed something. Was Aiko blushing? She didn't know she could do that. "Chess always looked too complicated to me."

"We could teach-"

"I'll pass," the blonde said, "I'm good at no games."

Umino thought about that for a few seconds. "Ever tried Pac-Man? It's basically about dodging things."

"I don't think her dodging skills would work in a game," Yukiko said.

"Time to research!" Usagi said, and walked to the elevator.

"Where are you going?"

"Why, to Crown, of course. I've seen a Pac-Man arcade there."

Chie smiled. "I want to see this."

Naru thought about it for a minute, then looked at Umino. "Let's go. It may help me keep my mind busy."

Yukiko sighed and looked at Aiko. "Would you be mad if I-"

"Not at all," Aiko said, "it's not like we're girlfriends."

Yukiko blinked at that, then chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. I'll be back later."

Hotaru was sure she had never been in a better mood than she had been lately. As a child, other kids would ignore her or mock her because of her powers, and that had made her quite cold towards others. But ever since she met Usagi and the others... Yes, the Hotaru from before the Dark Kingdom wars and the person she had become now were at the same time different, and still the same. She now knew friends were a very good thing to have. And also-

"Hey, are you there or did you fly away?"

- She had found someone special, in the most unexpected way. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about how much I've learnt in the last few years."

"Learnt?"

"Yes. I learnt to not judge people by first impressions, I learnt what friendship is, I learnt to rely on others when I can't do something on my own... And I'm also glad I found someone like you."

ChibiUsa blushed at that. "I'm not as smart, or as cute, as some of the other girls in our team."

"To me, you're the cutest... And you're far from dumb, too. Now if you learnt how to fight, you would be perfect as far as I'm concerned."

"Learn how to-" ChibiUsa frowned but then noticed Hotaru's smile. "For mocking my inexperience, I'll punish you!"

"I'm not sure how I should take that," Hotaru commented.

"Nice, I was trying to sound all threatening there, but..."

"All jokes aside, right now you're technically our main fighter."

ChibiUsa nodded and turned serious. "I'm... I'm not sure I can handle that responsibility, but I suppose this is also part of my training. I'm Sailor Moon too, Sailor Moon is a leader..."

"Who would you lead, though?" Hotaru asked, then shook her head. "Forget I asked, this will surely be one of those things."

"You're right, I can't tell you that, but you already know the Senshi will have children in the future."

Hotaru was about to say something, but then noticed ChibiUsa was looking around. "Oh. Another attack?"

"Yes. We're close to the Shrine, right?"

"Yeah, it's that way," Hotaru said, pointing north.

"Shit, that's the direction from where I'm sensing the enemy."

"No time to waste, then," Hotaru said, taking out her time key.

"Wait-"

"Setsuna will understand. And if she doesn't, I'll take the full blame for this."

"But we should only-"

"You said you wanted to stop what happened to Naru from happening to anyone else, right?"

"I... Damn it."

"I'm not going to break any rules, not going to get us there minutes ago, but..."

"I'm not letting you take all the blame, though. I would be a lousy girlfriend if I did."

Hotaru smiled at that. "Fair enough." A second later, they were both gone.

Minutes earlier, another group had made a very interesting discovery, one so shocking that those witnessing it were lost for words.

"Stage ten!"

Umino looked at Chie. "Are you helping her?"

"No."

Yukiko was quite impressed. "Wish I was that good at any game."

Umino shrugged "still not as good as me though. I once got to level twenty."

Chie blinked at that. "That doesn't sound hard."

"... After getting to level zero twice," Umino added.

Naru sighed. Yes, it was sort of fun to see Usagi demolish the Pac-Man game, but she had a strange feeling in the back of her mind, almost as if... "Guys, I'm going home."

"Are you okay?" Umino asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired."

Usagi turned away from the arcade machine. "See you tomorrow, at school."

Naru looked at her for a second before smiling. "Yeah."

"I think that was more than enough."

Yuichiro looked up at Rei. "I'm not tired yet, let's try again."

"We've been training for one hour, and frankly, you're forgetting that I've trained for longer than you. You don't have to act tough, it's natural that you would get tired faster than-"

Yuichiro stood up from the ground and sighed. "It's not about acting tough, Rei. I want to be stronger."

"Why, to protect me?"

"No, so that you don't have to worry about protecting me while we fight."

Rei stared at him. "That's..."

"Of course, I wouldn't mind growing strong enough to protect you, but-"

"Have I ever told you that you speak too much?"

"Only when you're about to kiss me," Yuichiro noted.

Rei leaned forwards, but stopped and looked to the side. There was a man with orange hair, wearing a business suit, walking up the stairs to the temple. Still, Rei's mind told him that he wasn't human. "Damn it, not now."

Yuichiro knew Rei enough to know what she meant, and summoned his sword. "Go away, you won't get her."

"Hmph, I'm not going to be intimidated by a human," the man gloated... Right before being knocked to the ground by a kick.

Rei looked at the newcomer. Saturn? "How did you-"

"We'll explain once we're done with this freak," Saturn said.

The man stood up. "Hmph, another weakling."

"Moon Dream Wave!"

"This one loves eating dirt," Yuichiro noted.

The man saw ChibiMoon and Saturn surrounding him, and growled. "Okay, okay, I know when I'm beaten. See ya!"

Rei frowned. "I'm not buying that."

ChibiMoon scanned the area with her eyes. "Damn it, where did he go?"

The man reappeared right next to Rei, not giving the others any time to react "One, two, three!" In a second, Rei was chained up and her mirror was floating near her. "Now to check-"

"Oh no, you won't!"

The others were all quite shocked. Nemesis had rushed in from the side and stabbed the man through with her spear. "Damn it, that really hurts, you-"

"Die."

"Hah, not today, but I'll be back," the evil man said before vanishing.

Nemesis sighed as Yuichiro returned Mars' mirror. "Damn, was I late?"

"No, you weren't," Rei said. "Thank you, guys."

"Think they'll come back for her?"

ChibiMoon paused for a second before shaking her head "those mirrors work a lot like the heart crystals, if they go back you will need to find another way to get them out again."

"Good to know," Nemesis said.

"So, how did you three show up that soon?"

Nemesis shrugged at that. "I was heading home but I heard noises up here, so I knew something was up."

"As for us," Saturn noted, "We're most likely going to get an earful from Setsuna soon."

"Sooner than you imagine."

The group turned to see Sailor Pluto standing there, her face unreadable. "Uhh... Hello Puu."

Rei could guess what had happened. "Setsuna, they stopped the enemy from-"

"I know. I just need to talk to them, in private."

Yuichiro saw the three girls vanish, and turned to Rei. "What was that about?"

"Remember I told you about the time tunnel? Well, it's not something we can freely use, and those two have very limited access to it, from what I understood. Still, Setsuna seems to care about them a lot, I don't think there will be any punishment."

Nemesis frowned. "There can be no punishment for doing what's right."

Rei looked at Nemesis. "I... The pain I felt when they took that thing out of me was almost too much. I think I understand how you feel a little bit more now."

"Those guys are much tougher than I thought," the Dark Senshi noted, "I stabbed him right through the heart."

"They're aliens, aren't they? Perhaps their heart is in a different part of their body."

Nemesis looked at Yuichiro. "I didn't think of that. Next time, I'll aim for a different zone, then."

The three women inside the tunnel weren't in their Senshi form, but Setsuna looked just as intimidating in her civilian form as she did in her Senshi form, and the other two didn't know what she would tell them.

Hotaru, however, wouldn't just silently wait for the veredict. "Look, Setsuna, we won't-"

"You're going to tell me you won't use those keys again, aren't you? You think it's okay because you only used them once?"

ChibiUsa was surprised, Setsuna seemed angry on the outside, but something told her that wasn't quite true. "What-"

"You were close enough to causing a ripple in the timelines," Pluto noted, "I hope you realize that what you did was dangerous and irresponsible. Specially you, Small Lady. I explained you much more about the timelines than I did to anyone other than the future Mercury."

"All I can say is, I'm sorry," ChibiUsa said.

"However, the timelines were not harmed at all, and you did what you thought was the right thing, so I'll let it go this time around."

Hotaru blinked at that. "So, we're not in trouble?"

"Not quite. In fact, I am granting you, Small Lady, authorization to use your key whenever someone is being attacked. But this will only last until the current enemy force is defeated."

"Why-" Hotaru started, then shook her head. "No, I think I understand why you decided to do that."

"Don't get me wrong, the keys are not toys and using them indiscriminately could do more harm than good, but... This time around, the goal does justify the means."

There were several more Senshi at the base when ChibiUsa and Hotaru appeared there, and most of them were surprised by their sudden entrance. "Wait, did you teleport in?"

"No, we just wasted some time," ChibiUsa said.

Terry laughed at that. "Okay, that's a good one. But from what Rei told us, I would think you would be grounded, or something."

"Actually, it's the other way around. She told me I can use my key to get those bastards whenever I sense them. But only during this war."

"She trusts you that much?" Chie asked.

"Even I was surprised," ChibiUsa admitted. She then looked around. "Wait, where's mom?"

Umino let out a long sigh. "Still at Crown, probably still beating Pac-Man to a pulp. I've created a monster."

"Usagi?"

Usagi turned to the side and smiled. "Hi."

"Is it really you?"

Usagi laughed as Mamoru stared at the screen. "Know how my dodging is supposedly beyond good? Thanks to Umino, I discovered it also works in games."

"That's good, but you know what time is it?"

"It's still early, isn't-" Usagi looked outside and flinched. "Eh, how long have I been playing this?"

"Judging by the stage number, I would say several hours. The movie I told you about starts in... Fifteen minutes."

"Uh... Sorry."

"No harm done, we can still make it if we hurry."

"Okay, just let me lose and-"

"Odango..."

"Just joking," Usagi said as she started walking out of the arcade, not sounding very convincing.

A/N: Umino turns into a Senshi, and next chapter Usagi turns into a gamer. Things can't get crazier... Right?

This act, if I do get to finish it someday, will be very different from my previous versions. How so? It would not be fun just telling you, but a hint to what will happen is already around.